


Chocolate Cake and Bloody Noses

by DannyBoyLix



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Background Johnny Suh/Lee Taeyong, Barista AU, M/M, Mark having an existential crisis due to Haechan, This is my first NCT fic, please be kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:13:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28840698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DannyBoyLix/pseuds/DannyBoyLix
Summary: Mark had always wanted his fairy tale Prince Charming to walk through the door of his cousin, Taeyong's cafe. Little did he know, what he actually got was a devil in disguise in the form of Lee Donghyuck.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 3
Kudos: 76





	Chocolate Cake and Bloody Noses

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a print given to my best friend by Withallstars who you can find on Instagram, Twitter and their website! https://www.withallstars.com/  
> Also thank you to my bestest friend, Lele for helping me out with ideas and keeping me motivated to keep writing this. Love you, Bubby!

Mark sighed to himself; another long day at the cafe. When he’d signed up to work at the cafe his older cousin, Taeyong owned, he thought it’d be like in all the books where he’d be upfront one day and in would stroll his very own Prince Charming. However, no such luck. All he encountered were tired students and the occasional frazzled lecturer. This is what he gets for working on campus, he supposes. But he still held out hope that one day, he’d get his own fairy tale happy ending.. 

“Mark!” He was shot out of his reverie by his aforementioned cousin sticking his head out of the back room, somehow covered in flour. He knew they sold homemade pastries and cakes along with their drinks but… How did he get flour on his NOSE? 

Once noticing the younger was actually looking at him, rather than staring into space, the older opened his mouth to speak once more.

“Can you go around the tables and ask if anyone wants a refill?” Mark looked around the moderately filled room and nodded with a small sigh, cracking his neck from side to side in an attempt to loosen himself up for social interaction. 

“Sure, but man, you really need to be more careful when making stuff. You got flour on your nose, Hyung.” He ended up laughing when Taeyong went cross eyed for a moment to attempt to look at his own nose before disappearing once more, leaving Mark to ‘attend to his duties’. Picking up the pad for orders, he opened up the exit in the counter to begin his movements around the cafe, asking people along the way whether they’d like a refill. One of their regulars, a tall man named Johnny always agreed to such refill, seeming to sit in a single chair for hours simply reading or working on a laptop on his masters degree. Him and Mark had gotten rather close through the time he had been working there and if he happened to notice the taller’s eyes land on Taeyong for possibly longer than they should, then that was Johnny’s business, not his own.

“Hey, Mark.” Johnny spoke just as Mark was about to leave for another table. “Can I have another cup, my little brother is in town and I’ve been coerced into buying him coffee so he doesn’t whine the whole way back to my apartment.” The male rolled his eyes affectionately, obvious in his love and care for his younger sibling but also seemed as if the younger male mentioned could be rather bratty. 

“Sure, Hyung. Lemme go make it up.” A quick walk back over to the counter and due to being focused on brewing said coffee, it prevented Mark from seeing whoever came through the door just as the espresso began to pour out of the press. However, he wasn’t truly wondering for long as soon enough after the doorbell had rang, a rather high-pitched, almost obnoxious tone of voice spilled from said mystery person’s lips.

“Johnny hyung! Why couldn’t we just meet in a Starbucks? They do way better drinks than some small cafe in the middle of a dingy high street!” Hearing this, Mark’s eyebrow twitched with annoyance. This kid may be Johnny’s younger brother, but to insult Taeyong’s business just because it wasn’t a Starbucks? He was honestly tempted to just throw the kid’s coffee at him, but he had a feeling that if he did that he’d be on the wrong side of Johnny and Taeyong. 

“One coffee.” He merely deadpanned, holding the cup on a tray along with sugar and milk as he stood to the side of the table. He was purposely attempting to keep his eyes off of the offending male as he set down said tray; He was succeeding, until Johnny decided to cut in.

“Oh, Mark. This right here, is my little annoyance of a brother Donghyuck.” He gestured to the other side of the table, gesturing for Mark to take a look and once he did… he regretted ever coming over to this table. No way. Donghyuck was.. Adorable. Button nose, full cheeks and cheeky eyes under a mid-length haircut that honestly blew Mark’s breath away. But the universe just had to kick him in the balls by making Donghyuck quite possibly the most annoying person on this planet. 

“Mark? That’s a weird name. How much do you get paid to work here exactly?” Donghyuck was obvious in his sarcasm, eyes glinting with mischief as Johnny sighed from the other end of the table, head in his hands.

“My name isn’t weird and it’s none of your business.” Mark huffed, only to end up sputtering slightly as he’d forgotten exactly how to act in front of customers as soon as the other had opened his mouth. What was wrong with him? He couldn’t be rude to customers, even if they did cause the vein in his temple to make a startling appearance each time his lips formed a syllable.

“Uh okay, as soon as you’ve stopped malfunctioning then. Can you get me a slice of chocolate cake, Markie? Thanks.” And there was the infuriating obnoxiousness again snapping Mark out of his internal panic. 

“Of course.” His voice practically dripped with as much sarcastic happiness as he could muster, turning from the table and heading back to the safety of the cafe’s counter for a moment. Maybe he could stick his head into the fridge where they kept the milk to scream for a moment. However, as soon as he reached said counter, Taeyong decided to make an appearance, thankfully flour free this time.

“So, I see you’ve met Johnny’s menace of a sibling now.” The older said casually, as if this sort of reaction to Donghyuck was expected by now.

“Wait, you’ve already met him?! How does anyone put up with him? He’s so frustrating and annoying and pretty and shit… I’m fucked.” Mark’s head fell into his hands the moment a laugh came from across the room, courtesy of said reason for him being entirely fucked.

“Wow, you’ve got it bad, Mark. I mean yeah, I’ve already met him. Sort of. I was around when Johnny happened to be on facetime once and he introduced us.” A hand landed safely on Mark’s back, patting a few times to offer some form of support. “He can be a brat, obviously but from what Johnny says, he’s actually a pretty sweet kid once you get to know him. Plus, he’s a year younger than you so technically, you’re his hyung. Although I doubt he’d agree to calling you that.” 

“He called me Markie and I didn’t know whether to snap at him or melt.” His voice had ended up rather high-pitched and whiny, as it tended to in an impending breakdown. 

“Alright, why don’t you go take your break and I’ll deal with Donghyuck for a bit?” The offer couldn’t come soon enough, Mark’s head flying up from between his hands to look up at Taeyong with wide eyes. 

“Oh please, hyung. I’m going insane here.” He ended up throwing his arms quickly around his cousin before practically rushing into the breakroom… after he grabbed himself a slice of their best cake. He’d help Taeyong bake more later to make up for his stress eating. Thankfully it didn’t take him long to find somewhere to sit, ending up being a stool in the corner they used in order to reach the higher shelves within their storage. 

Now what the hell was all that? How did Donghyuck manage to make Mark act like more of a fool than he usually would? Was it his attitude? Or the fact that Mark’s heart seemed to flutter whenever he so much as glanced at him? 

Mark just didn’t understand how this was happening. He’d legitimately only spoken a few words to Donghyuck and he was already acting like a lovesick teenager. He was 21, not 16! Stuffing cake into his mouth however, seemed to calm his thoughts for at least a minute and he was able to sit and merely rest his legs and arms from being on his feet for most of the afternoon. He enjoyed working at the cafe, but his feet were sometimes a little worse for wear due to the long hours of standing on his feet. He probably should start working out or something, instead of lazing around on his sofa with his Golden Retriever puppy, Biscuit laid on his stomach while he watches trash TV. 

Mark knew he couldn’t sit there forever, so once standing up, he made his way back to the front of the cafe, only for a subconscious frown to appear on his face as he noticed the empty table where Johnny and Donghyuck had been just minutes earlier. 

“If you’re looking for the little angel, him and Johnny just left. Sorry, Mark.” Taeyong turned to the distraught male with an apologetic smile, a hand coming up to rest comfortingly upon his shoulder with a pat. “I’m sure you’ll run into Donghyuck around campus though, he’s transferred into the college.” The words entered Mark’s brain at quite a delayed pace, but as soon as it settled in, anxiety creeped into his veins at the thought of seeing the younger male once more without the ability to prepare for it. “Go home, Mark. Get some rest, I can’t keep you here when you look like a nervous wreck, Auntie would kick my ass.”

Mark merely gave a sigh and nod, attempting to calm his nerves enough that he wouldn’t begin shaking as soon as he made to pick his bag and coat up, saying a small goodbye to Taeyong before making his way from the cafe and onto the busy street. Hopefully he wouldn’t end up seeing Donghyuck for quite a few days at least, if he ever saw him on campus at all. 

However, unfortunately for Mark; his meeting with Donghyuck came a bit sooner than he had hoped…

He had been just minding his own business, walking from what had been his first lecture of the day to the next when he felt a body collide with his own, toppling him over with what would have been a rather harsh landing if he hadn’t spun just at the right time so he didn’t fall on the side with his phone pocket.

“Yo man, what the fuck?” His eyes immediately turned to the offending person, only to inwardly groan as he noticed said person just happened to be Donghyuck, now sporting a rather bloody nose due to ramming into Mark’s heavy backpack. “Oh shit, man. Donghyuck? Are you okay?”

His answer was in definite a glare, one that Mark was sure that if looks could kill, he’d be dust in the wind.

“Do I look okay?” Donghyuck’s words came out sounding rather muffled as he attempted to pinch his nose to stem the blood flow. “What do you have in those bags? Cinder blocks?”

“Dictionaries.” 

“Of fucking course they’re dictionaries.” Donghyuck let out a huff of annoyance, soon attempting to stand up while keeping his head tilted back; which safe to say, was not exactly going to plan.

“We really should get you to the nurse.” Mark hurried up to his feet, thankfully seeming to be uninjured, a hand coming out to help Donghyuck onto his feet before beginning to drag him towards the - thankfully close - nurses office. 

“Let go of me, you nerd!” Donghyuck whined, his voice sounding even more nasally than it did before the incident. “I don’t need your dumb help!” 

Mark merely rolled his eyes at the obvious lie, continuing to tug him towards the nurses office. “Look, I’m sorry you ran into me yeah? But lemme help you.” He explained, trying to keep his voice calm. The last thing he wanted to do right now was snap at him. “You need to actually stop the bleeding and make sure you haven’t broken anything. I don’t wanna leave you to ignore this, you seem like you would so we’re going to the nurses office.” 

Unbeknownst to Mark, Donghyuck’s cheeks began to redden at the older’s assertiveness when it came to caring for him; but thankfully it didn’t take them much longer to reach said office. The nurse seemed to currently be elsewhere so they took a seat in the waiting portion of the room to see if said nurse would reappear. 

“So, I’m sorry for like disappearing on you and Johnny hyung in the cafe. I don’t exactly know what happened, but I just had to get out of there and Taeyong hyung gave me an out.” Mark began, apologising. He did actually feel bad, especially as Donghyuck had wanted some cake. A sigh to his side came from said male, a hand (thankfully bloodless) came to gently pat his cheek.

“Don’t worry about it, Markie. You can make it up to me, I bet. How about a free piece of cake?” 

“Sure, I can do tha-”

“And your number.”  
“My what?” Mark’s eyes flew to Donghyuck’s face, mouth wide open in shock.

“Your number. Unless you don’t want a date with me, Markie.” Donghyuck was grinning, still pinching his bloody nose. “It’s the least you can do, show me a good time and who knows, you might get a kiss out of it~.” The confidence was almost unbelievable coming from the younger, Mark’s head practically spinning as he attempted to get his own mouth to respond. 

“Uhm, Uhh, Okay?” He nearly dropped his phone with how much his hands were shaking as he brought it out of his pocket, steadily putting in the phone number spoken to him, being instructed to text said number so Donghyuck would have his; He didn’t exactly want to get his phone covered in the blood coating one of his hands.

‘Uh hey, Donghyuck. It’s Mark. Mark Lee.’

“Now, call me Hyuck… or Baby, whichever works for you.” And with a wink from Donghyuck, Mark realised that his life was going to end up being a lot more interesting from now on, even if slightly more irritating along the way.


End file.
